My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.

JOB 14:17KJV
Know the Bible

Job 14:17 (KJV)

What does Job 14:17 mean?

Job 14:17 presents Job’s fear that God is keeping his wrongs carefully stored rather than letting them go. Job speaks directly to God, describing his own wrongdoing as something gathered and secured so that it cannot be lost.

The picture is of a bag closed tightly around its contents. After saying in verse 16 that God counts his steps, Job portrays God as paying close attention to his faults.

The Hebrew behind Job 14:17

  • “transgression” — פֶּשַׁע (peshaʿ): This word refers to a wrong or an act of rebellion. It gives Job’s words a serious sense: he is speaking of offenses, not merely mistakes.
  • “sewest up” — טָפַל (tafal): This word can carry the sense of plastering over or covering. The KJV’s “sewest up” fits the picture of securing the contents of a bag.

Why Job 14:17 matters

  • Job is describing how he sees God treating him at that moment. His direct address, “thou sewest up,” makes the verse part of his appeal to God rather than a detached statement about wrongdoing.
  • The surrounding passage gives Job’s words a troubled edge. In verse 13, he asks God to hide him and later remember him; in verse 17, he speaks instead of his wrongs being kept.
  • Job’s concern involves both his actions and their lasting record. The paired words “transgression” and “iniquity” draw attention to his wrongs, while the sealed bag pictures their preservation.

Where else these words appear

“up” Hebrew H2950 · used in 3 verses

  • Job 13:4 But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
  • Psalms 119:69 The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.

“bag” Hebrew H6872 · used in 10 verses

  • Genesis 42:35 And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack: and when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.
  • 2 Samuel 17:13 Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there.
  • Song of Solomon 1:13 A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.

“up” Hebrew H2856 · used in 24 verses

  • Leviticus 15:3 And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness.
  • Esther 8:10 And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries:
  • Jeremiah 32:10 And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.

“transgression” Hebrew H6588 · used in 90 verses

  • Genesis 31:36 And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?
  • Psalms 51:3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
  • Lamentations 1:14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.